Merlin Rose

Merlin Rose (1757-) was a British politican and the founder and leader of the liberal British Republican Party.

Biography
Merlin Rose was born in Peterborough, England in 1757 to a middle-class family, and Rose worked as a bookseller for years. Rose became enamored with Enlightenment ideals, leading to him becoming a republican and a supporter of the French Revolution. Rose founded the British Republican Party in 1805 during the Napoleonic Wars, supporting the replacement of George III of Britain's constitutional monarchy with a democratically-elected republic. Rose was the shadow Lord Protector of the United Kingdom, but he would never be elected into power, as his party lacked popular support due to anti-revolutionary sentiment.